Holden Commodore Problems

No, it’s not a wise thing to do, no matter how much you trust the dealer. The price and mileage you quote for the car are nothing special, they’re about average, so there wouldn’t seem to be any reason to rush in. Go and see it for yourself, take it for a test drive, or at least have someone you trust do it for you.

Quality should not suffer in the final Commodores. As for parts, they'll be available for at least a decade.

The reason for distance and time on services is that short trips put just as much strain, sometimes more, on a car. If you go outside the recommendations, or do it yourself, you risk voiding the warranty and that could be expensive if something big goes wrong.

If you have been servicing your car regularly, changing the oil and oil filter, you shouldn't have too much sludge to deal with and I would use one of the additives available for the purpose at your local automotive store. Change the oil and filter at the same time as you put the additive in, then change the oil and filter again after a week or so of driving.

The six-speed Commodore V8 has very tall gearing, which helps the economy on a trip. That's a good number for your car, but I've done the same run is smaller-capacity cars and returned 6.2L/100km.

The system is designed such that the car starts on petrol and automatically switches over the LPG once the engine has warmed up. From your description it would seem that it is not starting on petrol, but trying to start on LPG. I would suggest the cold-start electronics are faulty. I would also suggest that you take it to an IMPCO dealer. IMPCO is the company that designed and developed the system for Holden and they should be able to sort it out. Go to http://www.impco.com.au to find your nearest dealer.

Stretched timing chains are a problem on the V6 engine. On early engines they were being replaced as low as 50,000km, until a change to the chain in 2007 supposedly fixed the problem. I would be trying to get Holden to come up with at least part of the cost of the repairs, and I would be reviewing the extended warranty to fully understand what it covers and what it doesn't.

I wouldn't be concerned about it. No doubt parts makers will be under pressure to survive with Holden and Ford stopping local production, but there will be a stock of parts retained by Holden in the medium term at least, and other companies will step into the breach if the current parts suppliers do fall over. With so many Commodores made there will be an on-going demand for replacement parts that will have to be met.

You are doing the right thing in getting it inspected before buying it. If it has been properly and professionally repaired, and passes the inspection I wouldn't be too concerned about it, but at the same time it's not a car I would buy. It will forever be regarded as a write-off that's been repaired, and that will always affect its value.

There was a problem with the torque converters in some 2012 Commodores that led to shuddering. It is possible that your car is affected. It is a pity you didn't act on it earlier when you first observed the shuddering, but it's not too late to do it now. Go back to the Holden dealer and ask him to make a request to Holden to fix it. If you get no satisfaction with the dealer go directly to Holden and make the request yourself.